How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love John Hughes Movies.

In high school I was a terrible student. Correction. I am a terrible student. I probably always will be.
Why?
Because I love to learn, but I can't stand being told what is important to know and what isn't. I love to discover and read and interpret and consider and read some more and argue and revise and write and debate and listen and read and then come to conclusions on my own. Some in the establishment regarded this as lazy. I regarded it as a natural reaction to boredom.
Sadly, as I'm sure most of you can attest personally, public schools are in no way, shape or form equipped to handle a person like that. I mention this because it is of particular relevance to the topic at hand.
Poor student equals poor grades. I was a horrifyingly bad student and my grades were the bad of legend. I got by on little more than pretty eyes and the fact that I scared most of my teachers to death with a mind that, if disturbed adequately, would rear its ugly head, take aim at the swill they dished out in class as "education" and then eat Tokyo.
Problem one- I have a deep respect for my parents.
Problem two- My parents have a deep respect for educators.
Problem three- My parents believed strongly in policing their children properly and took keen interest in what was happening and what needed to be done about things in their children's lives. As all parents should.
So from the start of my freshman year until my junior year, I was grounded. Seriously. The deal was, if my grades improved I could go out. They never improved and so for three years I sat on the outside looking in. My friends changed and grew up, they tried different things, people I knew since grade school evolved into totally different versions of themselves right before my eyes.
So, groups in High School.
Jock, Geek, Burnout, Goth, Princess- John Hughes staples all.
What I learned from being witness to all but a part of none? Did I take anything away from my academically imposed exile?
These groups were not exclusive. They were not omnipresent. They were not even real. All the jocks were car geeks and sport fact nerds. All the burnouts were immensely popular. The geeks liked heavy metal. The goths were awesome at softball and badminton. The princesses all acted tough. And everybody smoked pot and drank like fish.
Also, I swear, there was a sh#&load of coke.
The groups in school seemed to boil down to, primarily, three groups.
The Committed- Those who felt achievement in High School would translate directly into success in their lives at some point in the future.
The Uninterested- Those who thought High School was social punishment for not being rich, popular or good looking enough for mainstream America.
The Rest- Every single last person on Earth who has ever thought "one day, it sure would be cool to...(fill in the blank)" But at the age of sixteen or seventeen didn't know how to do it yet and was told school is where you go to figure sh*& out.
I still have a few close friends from my time in High School and honestly, they are so much a part of me that I have to question if I would even be myself without them. They are the only "group" I have ever concerned myself with.